


Strawberry Fields

by canadiankazz



Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade - LA By Night (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Gift Giving, Kisses, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-25 01:11:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadiankazz/pseuds/canadiankazz
Summary: Jasper has a gift for Eva.





	Strawberry Fields

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Josephine and Alex chatting in Josephine’s twitch stream to help me break my writer’s block. Please enjoy this sweet little offering! (Set sometime in the future after the end of Season 3, but before the Season 3 Epilogues. Written before the author saw Epilogue 3 '_Shattered Faith._' Doesn't contain any major spoilers.)
> 
> Thanks also, as always, to Cravatfiend, and I appreciate Elliot too for reading my first draft and helping me with stuff. :)

The coterie meeting was late in starting. Nelli and Victor had been pulled away by some other business at the last minute. They had both firmly assured Annabelle and Jasper via group text that the meeting was still going to go ahead, just half an hour late. Because the topic of said meeting was going to involve Griffith Park, Eva had been invited along to the meeting. She was increasingly feeling more and more like a full member of the coterie. This was something no one seemed to have any serious issue with.

Jasper, Eva and Annabelle were trying to kill time until Victor and Nelli showed up. Jasper had rolled his eyes at the texts in the group chat and slouched in his chair. Eva was sitting next to him and gave him a sympathetic little smile. Annabelle, true to her generation, was on her phone. A faint guitar jam issued from the small speakers. A conversation about music started when Eva inquired politely about the songs on Annabelle’s playlists. It eventually turned out that both Annabelle and Eva had an appreciation for music from the 60’s.

“What’s your favourite Beatles song, Eva?” Annabelle asked.

“‘Strawberry Fields,’” Eva answered. She looked down and smiled softly. “When I was a young child, I misheard the lyrics and I thought that song was about me.”

Annabelle frowned for a moment in consideration, then her face split into a wide grin. “Strawberry fields for Eva?”

Eva nodded, confirming this guess and obviously a little embarrassed.

Annabelle giggled. “That is _ adorable_! Oh my God!”

Eva’s embarrassed glance landed on Jasper. Her cheeks would have been red if they could have been. 

Jasper shrugged with a little smile. “I mean… that _ is _ cute, Eva,” he said.

“Yes, I suppose it is.” She smiled and sighed. “I used to sing it and eat strawberries. I’d make a mess and irritate my mother.”

Annabelle put her hand to her mouth in delight. “So cute! Little Eva. I bet you were an adorable kid.”

Again, Eva shrugged, weighed down by the melancholia of the memory. “I suppose. It’s been… a long time. No strawberries for me now. Not for… a long time. I kind of… miss them.”

Under the table, Jasper’s hand found Eva’s and give it a gentle squeeze. Annabelle was still less than a year dead. While she might miss a few things about being human, she didn’t fully understand yet how heavy the weight of Kindred years could feel. Eva returned the squeeze with a sad little smile for him. She appreciated the small comfort he was offering. He was getting better and better about showing affection in little ways and she wanted to encourage that. He could feel her soft thumb stroke his rough skin over his knuckles.

“Well…” Annabelle said, sensing the sad shift in mood and trying to turn it around, “I’m never going to be able to _ not _ hear those lyrics now, so thank you for that, Eva.” Annabelle sounded mock annoyed.

Eva giggled a little, despite herself. She had forgotten how nice company could be. She’d been alone in Griffith Park for a long, long time. “You’re welcome, Annabelle.”

“_Strawberry fields for Eva… _ ” Annabelle sang softly, rocking her head playfully back and forth to the tempo. “_Do do do do do-do-do… _”

Eva gave Jasper’s hand another little squeeze and let him go.

Jasper licked his fangs, watching Eva and thinking. He had an idea. Not all of his ideas were good ones but this… surely this one was nothing but sweet. He couldn't do anything about it right this moment, and it would require some planning, but he made a mental note to be sure to follow up on it.

Victor and Nelli entered the meeting room and Jasper put a pin in his plans until another time. 

* * *

Jasper started setting his plans into motion as soon as he got back to his laptop in his sanctum. He searched online for what he wanted, made a choice based both on aesthetics and his small budget left-over savings. He tried not to let himself doubt this as he went through the online checkout. _ “Eva’s going to love it,” _he told himself. _ “... I hope.” _

It took a few nights to be delivered. He had given the location often used between himself and Baron Abrams for delivering items and payment as the shipping address. He tried to be patient. The political situation between the Anarchs and the Ivory Tower was still relatively calm due to their truce. He was still worried about the cold war turning hot again at any moment. Eventually, he did receive the e-mail he had been waiting for. His package had arrived.

Jasper picked it up and brought it back to his sanctum to open up and examine. He couldn't help but smile. It was perfect. He decided he ought to put some effort into wrapping it up. He snuck across the river to the gas station and shoplifted a gift bag and a bow. The theft didn’t make him feel very guilty, though he supposed it ought to. Oh well, he thought. He had paid good money for the rest of the gift.

Jasper re-wrapped the fragile gift carefully back in its original bubble wrap and gently placed it inside the gift bag. He fixed the bow to the bag and smiled. He couldn't wait to give it to her the next time he saw her. Besides, he definitely didn’t want to be seen to be giving her anything in front of the coterie. He decided to text Eva and invite her to his sanctum.

‘I’ve got something for you. Can you come over?’ he sent her.

It took a few minutes for Eva to reply. She didn’t use her cell phone any more than she had to. ‘Yes. What is it?’

Jasper couldn't help but smile as he texted her back. ‘It’s a surprise.’ He didn’t use any emojis, though he briefly considered it.

‘A good one or a bad one?’

Jasper chuckled faintly. She knew him too well. ‘A good one.’

‘I’ll be over soon. Your place?’

‘Yes. It’ll be unlocked.’

Jasper did his best not to pace as he waited for Eva’s arrival. Instead, he found himself dusting the library with an old rag. Forty-five minutes later, Jasper could hear her voice coming down the passage from the river.

“Jasper?”

Jasper quickly stashed the dusty rag and went to greet her. He tried to sound casual, but seeing Eva in his home, free and willing and ethereal, never failed to make him feel like an awkward teenager all over again. “Hi Eva.”

She smiled at him. “What have you been up to?”

“Um… cleaning.”

“Oh? That’s good. Is that my surprise? A clean library?” She walked over to a shelf and ran her finger along a few books, now dust-free.

“Um, no.” He licked his fangs and tried to swallow the faint nerves that were starting to build up. “I got you something.”

“Oh?”

“Um… yeah.”

Eva waited for him to elaborate and giggled when his awkwardness kept him tongue-tied. “Is it another book?” she prompted.

“N-no. Um… here.” He handed her the gift bag. “Careful… it’s fragile.”

Eva considered this warning and sat on Jasper’s sofa to open it so she would be less likely to drop it to the cold, hard floor by accident. Jasper perched on the edge of the seat beside her, hands on his knees, glad he could no longer sweat.

Eva extracted the gift from the bag and started to unwrap it from the bubble wrap. She gasped as the gift was revealed.

It was a clear glass bowl. Inside this were five strawberries hand made out of coloured Murano glass. Each was approximately the size of a chicken egg and each a separate work of art in its own right. Every berry was a bright blood-ruby shade with a vivid emerald top. Eva held one up to the lamp light and it reflected red and green light on the wall. There was exquisite detail, down to the dimples for the seeds that peppered the surface of the strawberries.

For a moment, Eva was silent. “Oh, Jasper…” she sighed, putting the strawberry gently back into the bowl.

“Do… do you like it?”

Careful not to drop her gift, Eva quickly leaned over and caught Jasper in a kiss on his lips. He was surprised, but thrilled, and didn’t resist. One of Eva’s hands trailed down his chest while the other kept the glass fruit and bowl steady in her lap.

“I love it,” Eva whispered when she pulled back out of the kiss. There were the smallest hints of blood in the corner of her eyes and her voice had just the slightest crack of emotion in it. Despite that, she was smiling softly. “It’s… so sweet. Thank you.”

“I’m glad,” Jasper said in similar hushed tones. It didn’t matter how many times she kissed him, his brain short-circuited every time. He had a tiny dopey smile that was never seen outside of these moments. Eva was slowly growing familiar with it. “It’s… it’s not a full strawberry field but… if you look after them they should last forever.” 

Eva’s smile widened with a soft sound of amusement. She carefully set the gift on a low table within arm’s reach and leaned into him. Jasper wrapped his arms around her.

“Strawberry fields forever,” she recited.

“And you don’t have to worry about eating them,” Jasper pointed out.

“True. They’re beautiful. Thank you,” Eva said again, looking up into his face.

“You’re welcome,” he murmured, leaning down. This time, he initiated the kiss. It didn’t stop for a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> [This is a link to the glass strawberries.](https://www.muranonet.com/5-glass-strawberries-natural-size.html) I totally want some. They're beautiful!


End file.
